


10 years

by ccshbh



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 10:11:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17242370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccshbh/pseuds/ccshbh
Summary: So I hope you guys liked this little Bughead proposal that has been spooking around my mind for a little while. Commments are highly appreciated.





	10 years

The storm takes over New York on a Saturday evening. Within an hour, everything is covered in a thick layer of snow and the wind is howling around the walls of their building. It’s a little scarier up here, Jughead has to admit it, where you can feel the building bend to the wind. Especially when power runs out and all his other senses heighten immediately.

He’s never been more thankful for the little fireplace the apartment houses right under their television. When they moved in, he’d thought that it was an unnecessary luxury, but right now it’s a lifesaver. Another piece of evidence, that Betty is just smarter than him, and, for better or worse, prepared for every event.

The fireplace itself hadn’t been used much, up until now. Their busy schedules filled with book tours and readings for him and journalist conferences and trips abroad for Betty had prevented that. Now though, they scan the apartment for anything that burns and will keep the fire going. For a moment they’d even considered dismantling one of their kitchen chairs (they mostly eat on the couch or in bed, anyway), but then decide that destroying furniture that was there before they moved in, is probably a stupid idea.

The storm itself, is a very welcomed excuse to slow down. Their year had been a rush, a constant back and forth between New York and various other cities (even Riverdale), with a never-ending parade of work commitments. Life had treated them well after college, but it had also thrown them right into the mix, scarcely providing a minute to breath.

But now, as the roads are shut down, the airport is closed, and their schedules don’t matter anymore, they can huddle down under a blanket, watching the fire’s flames grow, while it eats away on the stacks of paper they’d dug up. Their phones die an hour in, but none of them really cares, because mostly, the two little gadgets have become an added factor of stress, with all their social media apps and work emails. Its for the best if they are switched off for a while.

At one point, Betty gets up, fixes two cups of hot chocolate (heating the milk over the fire place, something that is not just impressive, he has to admit, but also, kinda hot) and wordlessly hands one to him, before she snuggles into his side again. It’s probably his first hot chocolate in a decade, Jughead realizes, when he leans back into the cushions again. And its probably also not a bad idea to give his body a break from all the caffeine (which he is sure his blood consists of too about 80 % by now).

Betty falls asleep a while after she places her empty cup on the coffee table, her hand drawing lazy patterns on his chest, his tangled in her hair, gently massaging the back of her head.

And suddenly, it’s just the cracking of the fire, the howling of the wind outside, the warmth of her body next to his under the covers and him. He feels so good in this moment, so content, it surprises him a little. But he also knows that he deserves this. It had taken a while to realize that, but when he finally did, it was liberating. Because now he is able to just enjoy moments like this with her, without overthinking them.

That fact alone makes him want to do this for the rest of his life. And he’ll ask her about that one day, he thinks while he looks down on her sleeping form. About “the rest of their lives”. He is just not entirely sure about when.

…

The moment comes a few months later, after one evening on the brink between spring and summer, he drops down on the couch next to her, both of them too exhausted to even cook dinner after a long day, and he looks over at her and realizes, no matter how exhausted he is, no matter what life throws at him, as long as he can drop down on the couch next to her, nothing will be able to ever bother him.

...

A few days later, Betty opens the door to their apartment and stills in surprise and shock for a minute.

The hallway is pitch black, except for three candles, that seem to lead to the living room. She sets her purse down and tentatively calls out into the apartment: “Juggie?”

No answer.

She steps closer to the first candle and notices that there is a picture next to it on the floor. Taking it up, she smiles. It’s them, in a booth at Pop’s, just after they first started dating. Betty marvels at it a little, thinking about how much their lives have changed since then, about all the things that happened. Then she steps closer to the second candle and as she’d expected, finds another picture. She follows the trail of pictures into the living room and counts 10. One for every year they’ve been together now. High school graduation, the day they moved into their first apartment, college graduation, their cross-country trip in the summer after college.

The last one she picks up is only a few moths old, taken on their balcony during New Year’s Eve. It’s one of the rare selfies she has convinced Jughead to take. Their faces are bathed in the colors of New York’s fireworks and there is a post-it note stuck to it on the upper right corner and Betty bends down a little to read it properly.

_“10 pictures, one for every year you’ve chosen to love an idiot like me. Want to make no. 11 our wedding picture?”_

Betty’s breath hitches in her throat. Does that mean…

“Betty?” Jughead’s voice comes from behind her. She swivels around and there he is, on one knee, holding up a box with a ring, that sparkles in the light of the candles. He looks up at her, seemingly nervous. For a moment he says nothing, then he takes a deep breath.

“Shit, I had a whole speech prepared for this, and I’ve forgotten everything.” he breaths out and Betty can’t help but chuckle, because that so untypically Jughead. Her ever eloquent boyfriend at a loss of words.

“Okay.” he takes another deep breath. “Betty, I’m still not sure why, but 10 years ago, you’ve decided that this cynical, weird boy from the wrong side of the tracks was somewhat worthy of your love. And even now, 10 years later, that boy is still somewhere inside me and can’t believe that you really stuck with him for a decade and apparently don’t plan on stopping. For the past ten years, you’ve always been there, you’ve always stood by my side. And I hope that you’ll do me the honor to keep on doing that for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”

Betty’s eyes have filled up with tears of joy by now and all she can do is grab his face, pull him up into a standing position and kiss him. “Yes Juggie. A million times yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I hope you guys liked this little Bughead proposal that has been spooking around my mind for a little while. Commments are highly appreciated.


End file.
